Where in the game does it explain why some Orion women are basically slaves and some are combatants and some are the ruling class? Where exactly do Orion men fit in?

The whole "slave" thing is a con. Orion women are like Elasians. Their pheromones allow them to seduce and control men, infiltrating their enemies' power structure and gaining control over them. What better way to ensure the men take in these infiltrators that to offer them as "slaves"?

Presumably, a large portion of the Orion culture is dedicated to identifying and training those who are most suitable for this purpose. They are likely taught not just seduction, but how to defend themselves if necessary, not to mention techniques for spying and delivering information. I would honestly say that in Orion culture, these Slave Girls would not be considered a lower class, quite the opposite.

I suppose it's possible that in some cases, individual Orions might not care for this aspect of their culture and would want to escape from it, which might perpetuate the myth that in fact the "slaves" are actual slaves. And of course the Orions themselves would want their enemies to believe this so their deceit is not discovered.

The Orions are a purely matriarchal society that pretends not to be from the outside. By 2409 I think everyone's figured them out though.

If that's true, then why did B'vat have an Orion consort?

It may be the case that not every Orion "love slave" is actually a spy. While all Orion women have the pheromones, not all of them are able to control men with them.

Part of my Orion's unspoken background is the fact that she was indeed captured in a pirate raid as a young girl, and was in fact a slave for part of her youth (prior to maturity). So although she does have the ability to "Seduce" (in game terms), she was never part of the Orion ruling class and is more familiar with Ferengi and Klingon cultures than her own.

Besides, if the Orions aren't clever enough to keep everybody else guessing as to whether some of the women are actually slaves or not, I'll eat my d'k tahg point first.

Signed and bumped. Kdf feaured episodes, flavored or exclusive, would be a more than welcome addition. I'm really looking forward to the ds9 episodes, and seeing what they've done with the place. I think tying a kdf FE into the new Qo'noS map has epic written all over it.